Discourse, practice and the production of the polysemy of security

Abstract

While ‘security’ has now become a central theme in criminology, the literature on it is limited (and, limiting). One of the major issues plaguing the literature is definitional, that is, that it is often unclear what is meant by ‘security’. As noted by numerous scholars, what is needed is empirical documentation about what ‘security’ is to a variety of actors. In this article, I explore what ‘security’ looks and feels like to particular actors working in an emergency shelter. In so doing, I explicate the discursive production of the polysemy of ‘security’ by exploring the ways that ‘security’ is thought about, made sense of and put into practice.